Women in Trucking Webinar Q&A: How to Attract and Retain Female Drivers

Did you have a chance to attend our special Women in Trucking (WiT) webinar last week, "How to Attract and Retain Female Drivers"?

Ellen Voie, President of the Women in Trucking (WiT) association and presenter on the webinar, answers each of the attendees’ questions in this Q&A-style blog post.

Question: Where can we find more resources in learning about the industry and finding the right employees?

Answer: We have a lot of information on our website which includes a career center. However, corporate members have access to all of our resources, such as our recruiting guide, anti-harassment guide, and best practices information. Women in Trucking Association is a nonprofit organization supported by the dues of our members. Find out more here.

Question: How do we get access to the recruiting material you mentioned?

Answer: All of our resources are included in a corporate membership.

Question: When is the next Accelerate Conference?

Answer: The conference will be held in Dallas, and we are currently focused on the Sheraton Dallas on September 30-October 2, 2019. This could still change as the contract has not been finalized, but all of the information will be on our website as soon as it is available.

Question: As a recruiter, can I become a member of WiT?

Answer: Anyone who supports our mission can become a member. However, to get access to the resources, your company must join as we do not provide all of our materials to individual members.

Question: For companies that don't have women willing to train new hires/trainees, how do we get our male trainers to find the value in training a female for OTR?

Answer: First, you must have a zero tolerance for any jokes, teasing, or other conversations that could be misconstrued as harassment. You must have someone at your company who “owns” this concern and speaks with all drivers, male and female, about treating one another with respect. One company has their male trainers watch a movie called North Country and then they discuss the film.

Question: How do we find women who are looking for home daily positions vs OTR/Home weekend?

Answer: Women are actually much better about asking questions and doing their homework before they sign on with a carrier, so just be honest. Be up front in your recruiting ads and have your recruiters tell potential drivers how long they’ll be out. You won’t scare them off!

Question: How can we track the WiT Index?

Answer: Watch our website, as we will update the information in the first quarter of 2019. Here is the current data.

Question: How do we buy Clare, the Women in Trucking doll?

Answer: You can purchase the doll online or at a TA or Petro. All information about the doll and how to order can be found here.

Question: Last week's webinar with ATRI referenced that data proves that women are safer drivers than men. What do you think about that?

Answer: We’ve always known that women take fewer risks and have fewer accidents, but now we have the research that is focused on commercial drivers to back this up. We are thrilled with the research as we are always looking for gender-related data in transportation.

Question: Are you saying women don't want a BIG belt buckle?

Answer: Ha! Women should not be expected to align with the dominant norm (men’s safety awards). Reconsider safe driving awards and get rid of those that are not attractive to women, like big belt buckles and huge rings!

Question: What are you most proud of in the past ten years as founder of WiT?

Answer: It was pretty awesome to be recognized by the White House as being a Transportation Innovator Champion of Change! However, what I am most proud of in regard to the industry is that carriers are finally tracking their percentage of female drivers and are working hard to create a more diverse workforce. Ten years ago, I kept being told that they didn’t care WHO was driving the truck, but now they see the value in attracting more women into this industry.

Question: Will there be a recording of this session or will the slides be available?

Answer: The webinar is now available on-demand and can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here.

This webinar and many other relevant recruiting and retention related webinars are available on-demand on our webinars page; additional articles can be found on DriverReach's blog.

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